George Mpantes mathematics teacher Motion and space . What does the sentence a body moves mean?

We say

that is changing position relative to some other bodies. But this does not answer the question . Body moves or move the others ? Makes sense such a question ? Is the earth that rotates on its a is !rom west to east or the stars rotate !rom east to west ? I! the earth rotates " then how can measure the motion o! other bodies ? But " i! earth o!!ers us a !rame o! re!erence !or motion" then we can ask whether another system is available !or the re!erence o! motion too . Is there in space a really stationary system or a really stationary material body" as to which other bodies really move ? #Absolute motion$ . I! there is not something like this" then all motions should re!er to bodies #relative motion$ but a really stationary body does not e ist as there is not an immobile system o! re!erence. %ll motions are apparent #as related to other bodies$. I! so " the question o! whether the earth or the stars revolve " is meaningless " merely di!!erent but equivalent e pressions o! the phenomenon . (relative motion$ &o in every physical theory !or motion" the !undamental problem is this global re!erence o! motion somewhere in space" o! a particular aspect namely whether it is absolute or relative. &uch questions con!ronted all those were studying the phenomenon o! motion " %ristotle" 'escartes " (ewton " )eibni* " Mach " +instein . The response of each researcher in this question produces his views on space, since the motion is described in spatio-temporal terms . Absolute motion means absolute space, relative motion means relative space. Aristotle (the relative motion) .

Space in physics (Aristotle, Newton, Einstein) ,he natural motions !or %ristotle are , from" toward and around a point -" which coincides with the center o! the earth. &o" does %ristotle use the space with absolute or relative meaning? %s this point -" coincides with the center o! the earth " then theory does not use absolute quantities " the natural motion o! the

material bodies depends on their relative position to another body " the earth . But %ristotle writes that .If someone transposes the earth where there is now the moon, then each part to the earth would not be transported , but will remain in the place now stands. On the eavens !"# A $" ,hat is the point - is not the center o! the earth " but earth .ust removed toward this" because earth is heavy" and they coincided . ,hat means" point - is not identi!ied with a body. But back to On heavens, # II " /01$" he indicates that the center - is de!ined by the outer sphere o! the universe" the ethereal sphere o! distant stars" being it2s center . &o physical laws describe the motion relative to other bodies " in particular to the mathematical center o! distant stars" that is the earth. ,he %ristotelian motion is relative and re!ers to the system o! distant stars . e has found and defined the universal and ultimate frame of reference..%ulian &arbour' (The (iscovery of (ynamics)

The concept of Aristotles space

,he e istence o! place is held to be obvious !rom the !act o! mutual replacement. when the water has gone out as !rom a vessel" air is present3 and at another time another body occupies this same place. #4156hysics I7" /$

8or the relationship space9 motion" he observed that both require reciprocal one another " because the motion is possible only in relation to

George Mpantes mathematics teacher something. : The space would not be investigated if there was not a local
displacement ."

%s %ristotle2s motion was related with bodies #relative$ " so does the space itsel!" ie the space e ists because there are bodies to which relates every motion" there is no motion without space or space without motion . In this way " he !irst pointed out the relativity o! space. ,he space " where the motion is per!ormed " is the :place : o! %ristotle2s #;<=>?$ and as motion occurs relative to the stars" so space should be understood as to the stars . The space is the immediate motionless limit of bodies.
.place is not part of the thing , is the innermost motionless boundary of the surroundings ( !"# $% ).&

,hus space is associated with bodies " it2s characteristics are produced by the re!erence o! motion o! bodies !ound therein. ,hese positions o! %ristotle is the idea that drives the concept o! space in the entire path o! physics. @e!erence o! motion gives us the concept o! space. Ais view o! the space is completed by the ingenious conception o! the denial o! a physical e istence o! the empty space or void 4 . Again, just as
every body is in its place, so, too, every place has a body in.

%ristotle denied that there could be literally empty space. In physical terms " there!ore he considered the world as a holistic single entity " : then nothing can be converted into nothingness . ,he absence o! the ability o! observation o! the void in the physical world" leads him sa!ely to the denial o! the e istence o! a void" and that motion presupposes a !riction p between di!!erent substances . # BC B D p$
EEsupporters o! void 9 writes %ristotle9 say that void is *devoid of body .: Why think that the place is something independent o! the bodies # the place despite
1

'escardes critici*ed %ristotle2s de!inition because there are o!ten no such

innermost motionless boundary and yet things are not said to lack a place. (evertheless he apparently abides by the same ordinary conception" !or he characteri*es motion or change o! place in the true sense as the transport o! a part o! matter !rom the neighbourhood o! those that touch it immediately" and that we regard as being at rest " to the neighbourhood o! some othersE@oberto ,orreti
2

,he void Fthat is not void9 is described in modern physics in two !orms" the space9time and the quantum void #phenomenon Gasimir).

Space in physics (Aristotle, Newton, Einstein)

the bodies $ and that every sensible body is located in a place that e ists independently o! the body . But so consider the space a kind o! vessel which is complete when it contains matter # : H>IJK HJ =LMNJ? JKOPQ " <;PO RSJQ ;>O <TI>O >B HJI;QI<? JU;KO:$ and empty otherwise. %nd even argue that void is necessary "

because otherwise there would be no local motion # Metaphysics 4/V b /494/W a 4W$X

Aere is the big ob.ection o! %ristotleX i! the void e ists there will be no motion " because there would not be a direction to which the body would in pre!erence move" the void as such implies no di!!erence . 'Why stop the body here and not there ( ' I! void e ists" continues %ristotle " would !orce something strange " the subsequent principle o! inertia # which he re.ects introducing the first mover $ " which is impossible " since it has proved that is impossible the motion in an in!inite straight line" is impossible to travel the in!inity . +ven the speed o! a body in a void" would be in!inite because o! the *ero resistance o! the void in motion. #!rom the equation B C B D p" pC1$. ,here!ore" i! there was the void" there would not be natural motion #we can not conceive in!inite speed$. What e ists in space beyond the outer sphere? ,he tension !or the atomists isX the void. I! it2s nothing but void out there" then how is anything located? %ristotle saidX
so outside the universe (where there is no motion) there is no place, outside of everythin+ there is nothin+, heaven does not e,ist inside another thin+. There is not reality outside the s-y , because the void is non- bein+

E. ,hese two concepts" represented respectively by the !inite %ristotelian cosmos and in!inite +uclidean space" were both developed with great precision and detail long be!ore the end o! Yreek antiquity and lived on cheek by .owl until almost the middle o! the seventeenth centuryE

)e*ton . ,he void " however " and not a body " ie the space without bodies" was the

George Mpantes mathematics teacher

entity to which (ewton related the :real : motion . Aaving not been able to identi!y a body really motionless" he ... imagined it Z In the : Gomment : which is an introduction to the 6rincipia states his views on space which I will mention brie!ly . EE..pace is somethin+ separate from the bodies and e,ists independently of the
e,istence of bodies. This space will e,ist there even if all bodies disappear from the universe . There was even there before the bodies . It is the conceivable container of the material universe . Absolute space is by nature without any relation to anythin+ e,ternal , and remains always similar to himself and motionless ....... while relative space is a movable part or the absolute dimension we sensed from his relationship with the bodies and that layman is confused with the motionless space.. &ut because the parts of space cannot be seen, or distin+uished from one another by our senses, therefore in their stead we use sensible measures of them. /or from the positions and distances of thin+s from any body considered as immovable, we define 0definimus1 all places2 and then with respect to such places, we estimate all motions, considerin+ bodies as transferred from some of those places into others. And so, instead of absolute places and motions, we use relative ones2 and that without any inconvenience in common affairs2 but in philosophical disquisitions, we ou+ht to abstract from our senses, and consider thin+s themselves, distinct from what are only sensible measures of them. /or it may be that there is no body really at rest, to which the places and motions of others may be referred. . .cholium

3ewton 4. ,hat is" we measure motions in relative space but the real e isting space is the absolute one. ,his !antastic construction " eternal " immovable " unchanging e.t.c which regulates the motion in the physical world " seemed to many that was protecting the concept o! Yod as the divine substance that reveals it2s in!inity on the double in!inity o! absolute space and time # ubiquitous present and eternal $ . ,he interpretations o! (ewtonian theory in this direction were many " as in %ristotle. &o the system was endowed !urther with a social e!!iciency # religious$" .ust as in %ristotle. As for the absolute void , where they would li-e to arise a bein+ with a divine fiant, its ori+ins are purely human %. 5ilhau'

Space in physics (Aristotle, Newton, Einstein) +instein. +instein returned to %ristotle[s views on space a!ter 4011 years" considering the space as something that identi!ies with the %ristotelian place

#;<=>$ . (ow " however" everything changes . ,he re!erence o! motion is not made in respect o! some body or bodies o! the universe " but as to any material body . ,his relativity o! motion is the only reality !or reporting motion " since neither %ristotelian center o! the world e ists " nor even the absolute (ewtonian space . ,he laws o! motion should remain unchanged" regardless o! the re!erence system. In particular because o! it2s radical engagement with time # relativity o! simultaneous$ " space is di!!erent !or di!!erent observers # length contraction $ " since each observer sees as simultaneous di!!erent groups o! events . ,hey agree only about what events there are" not about where or when these events take place. +ach observer has his own space and several spaces are associated with the )orent*2s trans!ormations. It is the complete overthrow o! the classical concepts Z %s has been shown in special relativity is not possible to conceive o! absolute space and absolute distances " but only i! the simultaneous is absolute. +ven" the relationship o! space and material bodies is the central idea o! +eneral relativity and was veri!ied by observation. ,here bodies de!ine the geometry o! space" and the space is leading bodies in their orbits . +instein again raises the %ristotelian question o! whether can the word place has an independent meaning o! what we call material ob.ect ....If
( says) +ive a ne+ative answer to question (so does himself) we conlude that the space ( or place ) is actually not but only a -ind of orderin+ of material bodies .... we can not conceive any place without a material body ... since we accept such a concept for the space , it becomes impossible to tal- about void space , no lon+er has meanin+ .... E.The revolution we carry out, uses no absolute space .... instein

,he :revolution o! +instein appears as a dethronement o! the perceptions o! (ewton. 8or this !act +instein seems to apologi*es !rom (ewton. #(ewton" ver*eih [mir$. +pilogue .

George Mpantes mathematics teacher Aristotles space is !inite" and takes it2s meaning !rom the material bodies o! the world and their motions. ,hese motions are re!erred in the

sphere o! the stars " that is surrounding the world. ,he inner o! this conceived sphere is the space. )e*tons space is e tended in in!inity as +uclid2s straight line" and is a !antastic motionless container where are located and moving Fi! e isting9 the material bodies. Measuring their motions we use a local system" but this is the space !or the a!!airs o! measuring" the real space' is an entity" actually e ists" is the space to which the bodies are really at rest or moving. +insteins space takes it2s meaning o! the material bodies as in %ristotle" it doesn2t e ist without bodies " but it is not unique !or all observers. It is engaged with time in the absolute space9time but two observers in relative motion have di!!erent measurements o! space. It is the complete overthrow o! %ristotle and (ewton.

.ource X Aristotelian *motion' in modern 6hysics #www.mpantes.gr" (.codeX\W04D4]9/915$ Yeorge Mpantes mpantes on scribd .